Q-TIP. Quality of Life Targeted Intervention Patrol

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1 Q-TIP Quality of Life Targeted Intervention Patrol

2 Summary New Rochelle Police Department Q-TIP (Quality of Life Targeted Intervention Patrol) The city of New Rochelle is located in the southern tier of New York State, in lower Westchester County and fifteen miles north of midtown Manhattan. With a population of approximately 72,500 it is the seventh largest city in the state. Metro-North Railroad, Interstate 95, the Hutchinson River Parkway and the Westchester County Bee-Line Bus System service the city. New Rochelle was incorporated on March 24, Quality of life issues, such as drinking in public, urinating in public, disorderly behavior and noise complaints have become an increasing concern to the public as well as to the Police. Quite often, these issues are not dealt with properly, and the result is continued calls for service to the same locations, wasted resources, inefficiency, and a dissatisfied public. Based on Department statistics, as well as numerous community meetings, it is evident that the quality of life complaints far outnumber

3 other calls for police service. This is an indicator that these issues are a primary and continual concern to many residents and the Police. Prior approaches to deal with these problems have led to limited success. In April of 2003, the Department launched its project Q-TIP, or quality of Life Intervention patrol. This program is a proactive intervention patrol designed to combat and eradicate neighborhood problems before they become long-term nuisance complaints that require costly and extensive resources to correct. The program uses a priority system, enforcement, Neighborhood Response Teams, and numerous community resources to address and correct various quality of life complaints. The results in the first year of the program have been outstanding, with marked reductions in complaints for every location that has been addressed. The following project document contains specific examples and results.

4 New Rochelle Police Department New Rochelle, New York Quality of Life Targeted Intervention Patrol (Q-TIP) The New Rochelle Police Department is committed to community policing. The Department's core philosophy-police and Community Together or PACT was implemented in May The city was divided into eleven beats, and twelve beat officers were the primary community-policing practitioners in their area. The beats were designed to encompass neighborhood associations, houses of worship, businesses and schools. The beat officers provide proactive services tailored to the community's needs. Directed response, rather than random patrol, is the primary method of providing services to the New Rochelle community. The Department is a total problem-oriented policing Department. Every member of the Department is a community-policing practitioner. Problem-oriented policing, with the key tactic of problem solving, is the main strategy that the Department uses for successful community policing. The Department has been successful in changing the quality of contact with the community. This required a move from the traditional method of policing-patrolling in cars for the purpose of responding to calls for service. During a call for service, officers usually meet people under duress, which can cause these contacts to be negative. By placing officers in beats and moving the officers out of patrol vehicles and becoming less reactive has increased the positive contacts between officers and the community. The Department determined that a key component in creating positive contacts was

5 also effective communication between the officers and the community. All Department members received personal communications training designed to make them "contact professional". Every contact is viewed as an opportunity to gain public support and further the Department's goals. All employees have been trained to be assertive, not aggressive. All Department members have been trained in the problem-solving method of SARA, which enabled them to produce marked reductions in neighborhood violence, domestic violence, drug trafficking and drug use, auto theft, and repeat offender incarceration. Community outreach is an important aspect of community policing, not subject to change or discontinuance. All Department members have attended PTA, City Council, Neighborhood Association and Business Association meetings to seek input from the community on what they expect from their police department. As a result of these meetings, the Department regularly engages in community organizing, civilian training and neighborhood surveying. The Department also operates a mobile precinct, which is a 35-foot long special use vehicle. The vehicle facilitates the Department's outreach efforts. Programs such as Domestic violence intervention/counseling, security surveying, neighborhood surveying and civilian training are conducted throughout the city. The community owns the Department. Like shareholders in a private corporation they participate in the decisions that impact on the direction the Department moves and the delivery of services to the community. The Department's long-

6 term community policing plan complements New York State's Byrne Program Strategy by using community policing to reduce violent crime, drug trafficking, and drug use. Community involvement, training and inter-agency collaboration both enhance and complement the Byrne strategy. Quality of life issues, such as drinking in public, urinating in public, and disorderly groups in city parks during late night hours, has been addressed by the Department for many years. Based on Department statistics, it is evident that complaints on these quality of life issues far outnumber other calls for service, indicating that these concerns are a continual and primary concern of many residents and business owners. During most community meetings, these issues are discussed much more frequently than serious crime issues. In the past, the response usually consisted of the sector officer responding to a citizen complaint, or observing a violation while on patrol. This approach resulted in some positive results, but did not fully address the problem as well as the Department and community had anticipated. An additional obstacle was the community policing beats in place were not always conducive to efficiently addressing these problems. The beats were reconfigured in order to facilitate a better response and utilize more efficient problem solving. Specifically, each of the ten beats now were designed to incorporate a "trouble area", or a location with recurring complaints.

7 As the name Q-TIP implies, the program is a proactive intervention patrol designed to combat and eradicate neighborhood problems before they become long-term nuisance complaints that require costly and extensive resources to correct. The program was initiated in the spring of The focus is to assess and identify community problems through various means such as: citizen complaints, neighborhood association meetings, neighborhood watch group observations, and department statistics. The problems are then prioritized as to: seriousness, public perception, effect on the neighborhood, resources needed to correct the problem and time need to correct the problem. The primary corrective tool utilized is enforcement, specifically arrests and/or city code summonses. The ten beat officers and two housing officers comprise the two Neighborhood Response Teams. The Beat Officer is the primary enforcement agent, and others in the team act as support and provide supplemental enforcement. The goal is to utilize a maximum number of resources for the shortest period of time to correct the condition and gain voluntary compliance. The Neighborhood Response Team then turns over the follow-up to the Patrol Services Division, with the sector officer performs with regular inspections. This problem solving approach provides for a departmentwide effort, and uses resources more efficiently. The program allows for different initiatives, investigations, and patrols to also be utilized, due to its flexibility and by incorporating numerous units within the

8 Department, all working towards common goals. The program is responsive to community needs, and is able to address new and emerging community problems. Some specific examples of initiatives that Q-TIP are as follows: Towing and Booting Investigation: A city tow company was booting vehicles on private property and illegally charging an exorbitant fee for removal of the boot. Dozens of complaints were received at various lots throughout the city. Investigation revealed that numerous violations of local law were occurring. Neighborhood Response Team officers planned and videotaped a sting operation in which a car was parked and subsequently booted, with the owner of the car overcharged. The driver and owners of the tow company were charged with scheme to defraud and eventually closed for business, with numerous civil suits pending. A public service commercial was broadcast through local media, and additional victims were identified. The case was then handed over to the Westchester County District Attorneys office for follow-up and restitution to the victims. Stephenson Park: Multiple complaints were received regarding disorderly groups in the park during late night hours. This park is located in a residential neighborhood. Q-TIP proactively enforced park curfew,

9 drinking and drug use. The Department of Parks and Recreation was contacted to perform regular clean-up and prune trees to improve visibility of the park to neighborhood watch group members and Police. Complaints have dropped approximately 75%. 123 Pelham Road: This location is a strip mall from which the Department received daily complaints regarding disorderly groups harassing customers. Q-TIP was utilized to create a ban list, with all identified offenders served. Complaints have dropped to zero to date. In comparison, over fifty complaints had been received during last quarter of Trespass Initiative: Several of the city's municipal housing authority properties were identified as areas of drug dealing and drug use. The Department and community groups identified the causal factor as pedestrian walk-through looking for drugs. High intensity enforcement was initiated. Utilizing surveillance positions and apprehension teams to suppress illegal trespassers. To date, over 70 arrests have been made, with 30 being additionally booked on drug charges. Complaints of drug dealing have decreased by 70%. Gang Intervention Patrol: The Department began receiving complaints of gang related violence, specifically eight gang related incidents during

10 January Neighborhood Response Team members met with New Rochelle School Board members and jointly developed a plan to target atrisk youth in the middle schools. Suspected gang behavior, i.e. wearing of certain paraphernalia, generates a stop by Police and a letter is hand delivered to the parent. Counseling is then offered by the school district. West End Initiative: The area of the city is the most densely populated, with a growing number of Hispanics. Handbills were designed and distributed to educate the areas residents on illegal and offensive conduct, as well as the potential legal consequences. Additionally, a community activist from this area has been elected to the city council, representing the first Hispanic to serve with this branch of local government. The Training Unit scheduled this representative to address department members during its annual training cycle. Issues discussed each session included community perception of police, cultural beliefs, language barriers, etc. Neighborhood Response Teams have also appeared at numerous community meetings to discuss the problems, and the planned police response. Q-TIP has been utilized to conduct enforcement on quality of life offenses. The Department's Community Resources Coordinator has served as a key component in this endeavor, bringing together the numerous entities to work cohesively. The Village Team has been utilized to address several

11 areas of concern. This team consists of over 40 entities, and is used to examine existing physical, emotional and intellectual development, and identify unmet needs. The intent is to provide the developmental experiences that promote thriving and resiliency i.e. family support, positive family communication, a caring neighborhood, a caring school climate, parent involvement in schooling; a perception that adults in the community value youth; parents and other adults modeling positive, responsible behavior; positive peer influence; high expectations by parents and teachers of young people and the opportunity to engage in creative activities. The Village Team has a long-term perspective, understanding that efforts must be comprehensive, collaborative and enduring. All organizations with a role in the community need to participate because each brings particular strengths and capacities to a culturally diverse community asset building effort. The team places a high value on both process and outcome evaluation. Q-TIP has been evaluated utilizing several different methods. The New Rochelle Police Department's records management systems have been used for comparison statistics on crimes, calls for service, arrests and city code summonses. Complaints generated from Stephenson Park have been reduced 75% from 2003 to Complaints from disorderly behavior at 123 Pelham Road have been reduced from 50 during October - December 2003 to zero for the first quarter of Complaints of drug dealing at several municipal housing

12 authority properties have been reduced by 70% from 2003 to Q-TIP has resulted in a total of 681 arrests from April 2003-April 2004, and 1,328 city code summonses during the same time period. This enforcement has specifically addressed offenses that have plagued certain communities within New Rochelle. Additional concerns such as trust and a perception of safety have been measured through neighborhood surveys, at community meetings and during daily contacts between the police and the community. It is anticipated that all of these measures, statistical and otherwise, will continue to demonstrate that the police-community partnership remains strong and committed to improving the quality of life and reducing crime. The New Rochelle Police Department has learned several valuable lessons from Q-TIP. Training for all department members is imperative for any problemoriented policing initiative to succeed. The members must have knowledge and skills to approach problems in a non-traditional manner, and to gain the trust and support of the community. Every department member must be a communitypolicing practitioner. The SARA model of problem solving should be utilized to address the most recurring problems. Scanning, Analysis, Response and Assessment are all crucial steps in dealing with these problems. The problem must first be clearly identified and stated, which will allow the remaining three stages to work efficiently. The final stage, Assessment, is vital in that a determination must be made as to the effectiveness of the implemented strategies. Evaluation of the strategies must be ongoing to remain credible.

13 Other law enforcement agencies can adopt all of the strategies and practices employed during Q-TIP. The methods are generic enough that they are universally acceptable, and effective in any area throughout the country. Q-TIP was initiated in April 2003, and the preceding project document has demonstrated, by specific examples, that the initiative has achieved much success in one short year. Through a total community outreach effort, using the New Rochelle Board of Education, City Council, Neighborhood Associations, Neighborhood Watch Groups, Media, New Rochelle Parks and Recreation, must be implemented to realize success. In a further testament to the Department's community partnerships, one Police-Community group received the 2002 New York State Attorney General Crime Prevention Award of Excellence. Enforcement, after educating the public, has also been an integral component to the problem solving in the aforementioned areas of the city. Through these combined efforts, crime has been reduced, and quality of life improved. The prologue to the initiative must be the training of all department members in order to establish common practices and procedures to use as a foundation in problem solving techniques. The New Rochelle Police Department anticipates that, through the programs' various partnerships, Q-TIP will continue improve the quality of life for residents and business owners in the city. 10

14 City of New Rochelle New York May 24, 2004 Rob Guerette Goldstein Award Coordinator School of Criminal Justice Rutgers University-Newark 123 Washington Street Newark, NJ Dear Mr. Guerette: I would like to nominate "Q-TIP" (Quality-of-Life Targeted Intervention Patrol) for consideration for the 2004 Herman Goldstein Award. This endeavor represents a prototypical example of Police and the Community utilizing the SARA model to achieve success in resolving recurring problems. I am confident that the Project Document clearly demonstrates this to be substantiated. Respectfully submitted, Patrick J. Carroll Police Commissioner

15 Contact Person Lieutenant Cosmo Costa Training Director New Rocheile Police Department 475 North Avenue New Rochelie, New York Phone Fax ccosta@ci.new-rochelle.ny.us